A Yeti Heart

This is a collaboration between
@cecicstor and @tatswaru

Chapter 10 – Himalayan Storms

I awoke this morning to a strange sound. It was not like any sound I had heard before. It sounded curiously like a cross between an animal and human cry. Maybe I was imaging it. I had spent a restless night tossing and turning. I couldn’t stop thinking about the drawings and how they happened to be in this cave. And who put the firewood here?

The wind had died down and I peered out into huge blindingly white snow drifts. The sun was coming up and the glare of the snow would be dangerous. Good thing I remembered to pack my polarized sun goggles.

I really didn’t feel hungry but settled on gnawing a hard tack biscuit, some cheese and washed it down with some unsweetened strong tea. It settled to the bottom of my stomach and formed a hard lump. I felt restless and had an almost uncontrollable urge to push forward on my quest. I felt that my window of opportunity for finding the yeti may be closing, so I forced myself to plod on.

The temperature felt like it had dropped at least 15 degrees from yesterday. I put on my down filled parka, leather mittens, over the woollen ones and pulled the goggles down over my eyes. I braced myself for the bitter cold and glaring sun.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe. Maybe it was the lack of food or restful sleep or both, but I began to develop a headache the size of the Himalayas themselves! I took the time to take a couple of Tylenol and survey my surroundings. Perhaps it was the headache but I felt a little confused.

Because of last night’s storm, the trail had all but vanished. I couldn’t locate my compass and I was just guessing at the direction I was heading in. While the sun was out, it was not difficult to calculate the direction, but it has clouded over for the better part of the morning. The only thing that I could be certain of was that I was steadily climbing.

As I continued on, I spotted a small group of mountain goats huddled together against a rocky ledge. I wondered if this meant more bad weather coming. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I felt like I was being watched. When I turned to look, I thought I caught a glimpse of something big in the shadows. It crosses my mind that I may be suffering from that sickness Adit warned me about, but I quickly dismissed the thought. If I believed that, then I would have to turn back and abandon my life long dream of finding the Yeti.

![hiker on mountain.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmWSGJjq3NQrnkP8dFhZEgr11ibEZkpaD3fyvRCPJeYKdk
/hiker%20on%20mountain.jpg)

Snow was falling again and I could hear the wind howl mournfully as I struggled through the deep drifts. It seemed that I would need to find shelter for yet another night. My head continued to throb even though I had taken a couple of Ibuprofen, the strongest non-prescription medicine I carried, in addition to the Tylenol I had taken earlier. The snow swirled around me. I became disoriented.

I sought shelter to no avail. I was chilled to the bone and weak. I thought that this might be the last time I would make an entry in my journal. Thoughts of my family and friends back in tropical Costa Rica danced through my head. I tumbled face forward in a waist deep snow drift, unable to get up.

all photos in this story courtesy of pixabay

To be continued...